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Beaches Turks and Caicos Trip Report

I could not find much info on Fodor's when researching so I am writing this for anyone looking for some info.
Info on us: my husband, son(15 slightly mentally challenged), and myself stayed at Beaches from 11/27/09-12/6/09. We had an INCREDILBE time. We usually go to Hawaii, have been to all the islands. I usually plan lots of excursions and nonstop activities, lots of driving for my husband and sometimes a little overwhelming for my son. We were looking for something different and with the discount at Beaches we thought we would try the Caribbean. This was going to be a super relaxing vacation, my husband doesn't have to drive, we won't have to get up at 6am or earlier for excursions, and I would not run my son ragged. I really wanted to check out the island some, husband didn't so I agreed we would not leave the property. I have no regrets, it was an awesome vacation for us.
We paid $4320(not including airfare) for 9 nights. I almost felt we were ripping them off for all we got.
We arrived at 12:05pm on 11/27, the Beaches crew was right outside the airport waiting. It probably took 15 minutes to get loaded up after checking the people off and on our way. Our flight was only about 30% full,so probably takes longer with full plane. The shuttle we had was a taxi, not a beaches van so we tipped him $5, he gave me his card said to call if we needed a taxi anywhere.
We were staying in a French Village Luxury walkout king. Someone met us with cold towels and as soon as we entered the lobby a lady asked if we would like a drink and made us a vodka punch drink. She sat us down to fill out info. Our room was not ready so she walked us outside by the pool and pointed to Giuseppe's restaurant and told us to enjoy lunch and our room would be ready when we were finished. We decided to walk around instead and the place was incredible, I was so excited. Sometimes I plan too much and am a little let down, but definitely did not feel that way.
Went back to lobby an hour later and our room was ready. The manager of the French Village David greeted us. We saw him morning, noon and night all over the property and he stopped and chatted with us all the time, very nice. We were in the Paris block, very convenient to the French pool and bar and the water park. Our room was very nice, we got a King bed which had a daybed with a trundle(my son took turns sleeping on those). The mattress and pillows were super comfy. The only reason I am usually ready to come home from vaca is because I miss my bed, not the case here. There was a fridge in room, stocked with lots of free bottled water. We were farthest from the ocean than the other two villages but did not bother us at all.
The 24 hour fitness center had lots of cardio equipment, free weights and weight machines, a few people were usually in there, but it was never crowded. Towels and bottled water was provided, also hand sanitizer and sanitizer to wipe down the equipment.
Did not mean to be this detailed, so I will give a rundown on restaurants.
I do not like buffets, here in Vegas, on a cruise ship, in Hawaii, or here, if I have to eat buffet it is usually salad and dessert. That said there are lots of buffets but a la carte choices for all meals.
For breakfast Schooners and Barefoot by the sea are a la carte and we enjoyed both. Also in the French village is Cafe de Paris 6am-10pm for pastries, crepes, cappuccino's, other specialty coffees and alcoholic coffee drinks
Lunch a la carte is Barefoot, Cricketers Pub,(my husband and my favorite) and Bobby's Dees(my sons favorite), burgers to order, corn dogs, hots dogs, fries, onion rings, and all the ice cream you can eat. Soft serve or a counter with sundaes, banana splits, shakes are all available. This restaurant is open from 11am-6am everyday and we went late at night every night for a snack.
There are several other choices for breakfast and lunch that are buffet.
We ate at all the dinner restaurant choices available but Barefoot. The 1st night we went to eat there, it was closed for a private party and the 2nd time it had a 45 minute wait(the only wait encountered for a meal the whole time) so we ate somewhere else.
We enjoyed our dinners at Arizona's ate 2x, Mario's ate 2x, Kimonos, Schooners, and Sapodillas. We did not like the Petit Chateau, probably just do not like French food. We also went to the sushi bar twice and enjoyed a lot. They had a beach barbeque the night we arrived, my husband ate a little(pretty much a buffet) he said it was ok. Some of the restaurants are closed one night a week, so good to check when you get there if you want to hit them all. Enjoyed the service and friendliness of everyone in the restaurants and bars.
On to booze, my husband was looking forward to drinking, usually he is driving and doesn't get to drink lots. The pool bars open around 10am and are open til 5 or 6 some that serve the restaurants are open later. Turtles Bar for 18 and older is open until 2am, Cricketers is open til 2am, and bar de Musique in the French village is open late, not sure til what time though. The beer at the pool bars was miller lite, MGD, coors light, and Turks head. Cricketers also had Sam Adams, New Castle, Guinness, and maybe others, and Kimonos and the sushi bar has Kirin. They had premium liquor, absolut, stoli, tangueray, bombay, JW black, glenlivet, courvoiser, etc. There was a drink of the day, plus there specialty drinks, pina coladas, fresh banana daiquiris, Kahlua for white russians, a decent ruby port wine was available. Was impressed with the selection. At breakfast all the restaurants had champagne or mimosas to start your day. The wines included are beringer stone cellar pinot grigio, chardonnay, merlot, and cabernet. Not top quality but decent wines, they have an upgraded wine list for an additional charge. On Wed they had a wine tasting, it was these 4 wines if we would have known probably would not have gone, but enjoyable anyway. You needed to make a reservation, a party of 10 did not show, very rude, I hope that did not mean others did not get to attend. On Monday they had a cocktail party at the French village pool bar from 5-6 with some great apps and cheese, very nice. They also had a dance club-club liquid, I thought it was for teens only, but found out that was to 10:30. We made it up there one night, had a great time(hard to stay up that late getting up at 9am and spending 7 hours in the sun.
Did not mean to be this long winded, will finish up in a couple days with beach, water activities, and entertainment.

TPAYT- we booked 10 months out when they were having one of their many specials, originally $4781 it was like 60% off for the French Village. Checked a couple months later and it was $467 cheaper as they had added a free night with 7 nights or longer, called and they gave me that price. Keep checking online seems they have continual specials.

Continuing- the ocean was an incredible blue, prettiest water I've seen. The beach was clean and very soft sand. Did not need water shoes as do some places as it was sandy not rocky. We had no problem getting chairs at the beach. It was very nice having an all inclusive and not having to worry about a wallet, cash, cc, or car keys left on a chair or bag while we were playing in the ocean. We went snorkeling 4 times. The boat went out from 2-4 times a day. Maybe based on occupancy. The 2nd day we were there checked for that day Sat, but booked. Booked for Sunday then and booked a day early for the other 3 trips with no problem, only one trip the boat was full. They do only book one day in advance. It was an hour trip, we went to 3 different snorkel sites while there. Only goes to one site each trip out. The sites were just a few minutes out. You got to snorkel 30 minutes total. The water was warm, usually I am frozen after a few minutes when I snorkel, but was out for the 30 minutes each time. We saw a lot of fish, not as colorful as in Hawaii, but a good variety. Did not get to see any turtles, eels, or dolphins, that was a tiny bit disappointing.
Other water activities we did was the hobie cat. My husband had a half hour lesson and then we went out the next 4 days. This was lots of fun. They also give wind surfing lessons, looked too hard for us though.
The pools were all very clean. The busiest by far was the Italian pool, but we did not have a problem getting chairs or rafts any day at any pool. The Italian pool and French pool are only 3 foot and a few inches deep. Both have big whirlpools. We spent sometime at the iguana's pool and cascades(Arizona's) pool. These both are up to 5 feet deep. Loved the waterfalls and cave at the cascades pool. The iguanas pool also has a pizzeria open during the day for fresh pizzas. They have tables to eat at or you can get it boxed to take to another pool or back to your room(there is also a gordon's pizzeria close to the Italian pool where you can do the same.
We enjoyed the water park. Went down the lazy river a few times and down all the slides and tubes. No waiting for any of that. There is hot dog cart in the water park area and a guy on a bike comes through often with an ice cream cart. This area has another pool with a swim up bar for the kids, not that they could not have drinks at any of the other swim up bars.
There are signs by all the pools asking that kids under 5 please have swim diapers on, if an accident, will have to shut down the pool. One day when we were at the Italian pool this happened and the pool was shut down for hours(maybe the rest of the day).
Finish soon with entertainment

Thank you for writing such a great report. We are looking into going there this summer with a 3 year old and a 1 yr old. Did you have a chance to check out the children's facilities/babysitting? I am wondering how secure it is.

We did not use the childcare as son is too old, so this is based on what I saw. The seasame street camp was in a separate building closest to the caribbean village. They had their own children's pool and playground area. The Italian and French village pools also have a kiddie pool connected but separate from the main pool. The kids seemed to really enjoy the sesame street show and parade, which we watched one nite as right outside our room, started at 5:30pm. For kids starting at 3-4 and up they had some different shows with games or talent shows, also for adults. At barefoort restaurant- they had mini picnic tables that the kids really enjoyed sitting at and eating with their parents at big tables close by. They had a schedule posted for kids 5-7 and 8-11 posted by Xbox 360 garage(which my son loved). These were all kid rated and sports games, there are no mature rated or as I recall even teen rated games(so no blood, guts, gore, or cussing games).
They had hourly scheduled activities, painting, tennis, volleyball, xbox time, and a little pool time. I was very suprised there was only about an hour scheduled pool or waterpark time with the childcare. This would seem to me what this age would want to be doing. So if your kid wants to swim, slide and spend lots of time in the ocean they might not want to spend lots of time here, except for maybe the evening session. All kids old enough to eat will love bobby dees. For the older kids they have a place called shadow lounge with pool, air hockey, and some arcade games, but no parents allowed. They also have club liquid to dance in until 10:30pm, but I think parents can hang out with them here. It said there was a teen beach shack on the beach, but did not see anything that would be a teen beach shack. There is tennis, basketball, chess, and an activities shack which has board games, you can check out to play with the kids. There was also another area by xbox with pool tables, ping pong, and a couple other things to do with your kids, but it was poorly maintained, the pool tables were ripped, sticks warped, and a couple of the other things just did not work.
Cricketers has karaoke, much better pool tables that kids and parents can do together. There is 2 pool tables outside turtles pu18 and older only in the pub) that any age can play. There are 8 slot machines outside this pub for people 18 and older also. Turtles had a dj most nights, the music was usually good, we enjoyed this lounge. There were scheduled activities at the iguana pool, bingo, pool volleyball, etc. but never saw much participation. We played bingo(for free, you get points you can redeem for something at the end of your vacation if you win)kids can play too, and there were 4 other peoople playing. The beach volleyball had lots more participants. Two nights we were there they had a movie and pizza night, one in the caribeean village lobby and one at the iguanas pool. The ocean was very calm, so it seems even little kids would enjoy it a lot.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for your thorough posting and mostly for naming the price you paid. I always name the price I paid on reviews and I wish more people did so we can all educate each other on the deals that are out there! We are hoping to go in November of this year but the best rate we can find is $4767/7 nights, which works out to be $681. It looks like you paid appx. $480 per night for the 9 nights you went, so I know it was 2 years ago but I'm thinking I should be able to find a better deal that $681 per night, dont you think? I know you mentioned that you booked under the 1 night free promo, but it looks like now that promo only benefits those that are already paying for a 4 or 5 level upgraded room. Please tell me about your experience and how you got your awesome price! Youve given me hope!
Nicole

I'll have to dig out my invoice from last April - we stayed for 7 nights - I think we paid 4k total for 2 people...we stayed in the Caribbean village - had concierge service - but hung out at the Italian Village Pool! The French Village existed too - we ate there but didn't hang out there - we preferred the Italian Village.....

Hi Nicole,
When we went the Italian village and all the restaurants were open- it was Thanksgiving weekend also. We just got lucky and they had some great deals that year, haven't seen as good of a deal since-that was for me, hubby, and 15 year old son. I had originally booked for about $500 higher, but kept checking website and when I found a lower price, they matched it. Keep checking and good luck. It was so worth the trip looking forward to going again in another year or two.

To my knowledge, last April is when the new water park was open, and you probably got grand opening specials because they were promoting it.

Now November is considered low season, so they may have specials, but Beaches since last Summer has gotten extremely popular and has been selling out like crazy. If I had to predict, you won't see much lower than $681. The island itself (electric, water etc) has spiked on the island, I'm sure prices reflect that.

I could be wrong, but even day passes (family of 3!) already put you at $550 (and don't include dinner or night activities) so currently $680 is pretty good price.

As much as you'd like past prices to be affective, makes no difference what it was last Nov.--

I keep my eye from time to time, and it actually sounds like a good current price to me. If you decided to book, ask their cancelation policy, maybe if price lowered that could give you recourse?

Sometimes the sales are on certain levels of rooms, and the prices have increased now that the water park has been established.

Is it just 2 of you? Or are you a family?

Are you determinded for Beaches? or AI? There are more gorgeous properties in T&C for a lot less money, but not AI......

The waterpark opened around April 2009, we were there Nov 2009. They were having an awesome deal on the French Village rooms as I guess everybody wanted to stay in the new Italian village. We do not expect to get that price again as I have been checking for the last year and our son is now 16 so considered an adult. When we do go again we will stay in the cheapest room available as we were only in the room to sleep.

So, by switching our dates to start the 7 nights on 10/25 rather than 11/7 the price is at $511.00 per night, rather than $681.00! (Avail on the website now but we're booking with DreamMakers.)As LVAMY said, we too will probably be content with a basic Tuquoise "Deluxe" King room, our strategy is usually to get the least expensive room at the resort with the greatest amenities as our little ones will not allow any relaxing in the room

A heads up, after 11/1 (and i've checked every single date through the end of year) the price hikes up to at least $681/nt. If I get lucky enough to have the rates into early Nov. change I can switch the dates easily.

Two more questions for y'all if you'd be so kind:

-Does any one have photos or a more specifc description of a Turquoise King Room? I cant find ANY pics of that room anywhere-the only thing that would be a deal breaker is an uncomfortable bed or dirty stuff.

-Has anyone ever been there to participate in the Halloween festivities before?

We stayed in the lowest room category they have here for the first night of our stay because it was all that was available. It was a basic hotel room in the older part of the resort. Ours had two double beds in it, and a bathroom. It had a mini fridge with a few waters in it, and was basic but kept clean (just older) and worked. We prefer more room so we booked a 1 bedroom suite (Governor's Suite) so our kids could sleep in the living area on trundle beds and we slept in the bedroom. That worked out fantastically. I am glad we did that, as our kids are young and go to sleep rather early. We didn't want to be super quiet and in the dark when they did. The beds in both room types are not the best beds I have slept in, but they are not awful either. We are all getting good night's rest here.

We have to check out of this room tomorrow and into another room for two nights (we added three nights onto our stay last minute and the resort was booked solid when we did, so these room changes are no fault of the resort)...no idea what room type we will end up in. Can't wait to compare them.